| Jaecee Martin came up big in overtime on Saturday and through the weekend at the Small College Basketball Classic. File photo from University of St. Joseph |
The St. Joseph (Conn.) Blue Jays and Keene State Owls finished big weekends away from New England with wins over ranked foes while top-ranked Randolph-Macon rebounded to beat its archrival in Saturday's Division III men's basketball action.
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After beating No. 3 UW-Oshkosh 60-44 on Friday night, the Blue Jays winged past No. 21 Illinois Wesleyan 73-64 in overtime at the Small College Basketball Classic.
Jaecee Martin’s layup gave St. Joseph (Conn.) a 15-point lead in the closing minutes of the first half, but the Titans rallied to tie the game midway through the second half on Cody Mitchell’s jumper. The game remained tight the rest of the way with neither team leading the other by more than five points through end of regulation.
In overtime, the Blue Jays only had two four field goal attempts but they went 12 for 16 from the foul line. Martin scored six of his game-high 23 points in the extra period. Mitchell finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds for Illinois Wesleyan (2-2).
Keene State looked great at the Great Lakes Invitational in Crawfordsville, Indiana and overwhelmed No. 17 Marietta, 84-62. Keene State outrebounded the Pioneers 53-36 and led by as many as 33 points in the second half. Jeff Hunter scored 21 points and grabbed 16 rebounds for the Owls who also hit 12 three-pointers.
Trine also left the two-day event with two wins. The Thunder held Rose-Hulman to 24 percent shooting (12 for 50) and defeated the Fightin’ Engineers, 54-38. Wabash, which hosted this year’s event, closed it out with an 84-74 win over Maryville.
No. 1 Randolph-Macon rebounded from its loss to Mary Washington and edged archrival Hampden-Sydney, 61-59. Will Coble’s three-pointer staked the Yellow Jackets to a 55-46 lead with 4:31 to play and All-American Miles Mallory scored four points in the final 20 seconds to seal the win. Daniel Mbangue filled the stat sheet with 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals for Randolph-Macon (3-1).
John Carroll took advantage of a rough shooting night for No. 24 Wheaton (Ill.), and the Blue Streaks defeated the Thunder 60-56 in the Lee Pfund Classic title game. Wheaton went 1 for 21 from three and fell behind John Carroll 53-44 midway through the second half. The Thunder pulled within four at 60-56 with two minutes to play but neither team scored the rest of the way.
Henry Raynor finished one rebound short of a double-double for John Carroll (4-0) with 12 points and nine rebounds. Eli Considine tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds for Wheaton (3-1).
St. Olaf opened MIAC play with a 73-62 win at home over No. 25 St. John's. The Oles shot 51.7 percent as Charlie Haff and Nathan Hendler combined for 34 points on 14-for-23 shooting.
Several feet of snow did not stop the crosstown shootout in Rochester, New York, where No. 11 Rochester topped Nazareth, 75-69. Ryan Algier had 28 points and eight rebounds for the Yellowjackets (5-0). St. John Fisher held off Rochester Tech, 89-81, in the second game of that event.